The second place team of Joe Ben Hogancamp of Bardwell, Ky. and Clay Cannon of West Paducah hold up two of their biggest at Saturday’s Cabela’s King Kat Tournament held in Metropolis. — Planet photo by Beth Shelton

Over 20 local children fished at Saturday’s Cabela’s Kids Rodeo held at the Fort Massac Trout Pond during the King Kat tournament. Prizes were awarded in two age categories. — Planet photo by Beth Shelton

While Metropolis has only been on the Cabela’s King Kat Tournament schedule for three years, it has become one of the most popular venues on the trail.

That popularity probably isn’t because of the scintillating nightlife or cultural importance of Massac County, but we have something that only a few other stops on the trail have and that is the mighty Ohio River. Driving over the river right now and being used to its normal size, one forgets just how impressive she is.

Over 80 top notch anglers rolled into town last week and plied their trade on the shrunken river and despite sweltering heat, heavy barge traffic and extremely low water levels, weighed in some crazy-good stringers of catfish.

How good a fishery is the lower Ohio? Check out these numbers from previous 2012 King Kat tourneys. The June 10 $10,000 Super Tournament on the Rock River near Dixon yielded a winning stringer of 36 pounds. A May event at Morgantown, W.Va. on the Monongahela River was won with a total of 42 pounds. The upper Ohio at Gallipolis, Ohio yielded a catch of 92 pounds to win a May 5 event.

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